The project’s own website was updated accordingly, with text stating “NASA is planning a series of progressive robotic missions to the lunar surface,” just not the rover that it has spent the last few years developing.

Budget watchers will not have been entirely surprised by the kind-of-announcement since the Resource Prospector was conspicuous by its absence from the latest NASA budget request (PDF).

A tweet yesterday from Bridenstine appears to confirm the direction the agency is now taking as far getting payloads to the moon is concerned. Rather than develop in-house, NASA is looking to its friends in the commercial sector to deal with lunar payloads.

In case you missed it, on Friday @NASA released a draft solicitation for Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS). Numerous vendors will compete to carry NASA payloads to the surface of the Moon. Industry Day is Tuesday, May 8. I will be there. @NASAMoonhttps://t.co/ujvNkxRZDX

This sounds awfully like the commercial sector providing a rover to trundle around the moon while hosting instruments crowbarred off the unfortunate Resource Prospector.

The approach also represents a clear statement of intent by the agency to follow President Trump’s Space Policy Directive 1, which calls for a “U.S.-led, integrated program with private sector partners for a human return to the Moon”.

Companies disappointed to have missed out on Google’s Lunar XPRIZE may yet get a chance to drink deeply from the NASA cash trough.

The Register has contacted NASA for confirmation of the rover's cancellation and will update with comment from the agency. ®